Reflections and Call for Accountability: Toward a More Just EDGE Conference

At the EDGE Funders Conference, held in Berlin in 2023, grassroots activists arrived not just with hope, but with lived expertise, ready to co-create justice. Instead, many of us were tokenized and sidelined, our presence reduced to symbolic inclusion rather than meaningful partnership. At the 2025 conference in Bogotá, themed “From Pledge to Action: Accountability in Philanthropy,” taking place from April 28–30, Jennifer Kamau from IW*S spoke for most of the grassroots organizations attending, in her input, that we must confront this imbalance head-on. True accountability means more than panel invitations or listening sessions — it means shared power, equitable funding, and a fundamental rethinking of philanthropy’s role. We are not here to be managed or observed. We are here to lead, build, and transform.

 As a migrant-led, feminist, anti-colonial group, International Women* Space — alongside the Migrant Justice Community of Practice — calls on funders to stop replicating the very hierarchies we aim to dismantle. In an era of rising authoritarianism and repression, grassroots movements are not only resisting, but offering bold, grounded visions of justice. Yet we remain underfunded and overextracted. If EDGE and its members are serious about systemic change, they must shift from comfort to commitment — from controlling narratives to co-creating liberation.

Read the whole Statement here.

 

“The issue is not just about listening— it is about acknowledging the lived realities, the diversity of our experiences, and the deep interconnectedness of our visions for justice. If funders truly cared about justice, they would stop building the vision of justice and social transformation in boardrooms, with communities and recognize that we all have a critical role to play in shaping the future. Right now, there is no real transformation—just the same old power structures, dressed up in new words.”